GETTING BEYOND THE STEREOTYPE
This article is written to correct the misrepresentations, the ill documented reports and/or social studies and recorded history as it relates to the study of Muslim women. There is a general perception that Muslim women are oppressed. There are also specific misperceptions around education, marital rights, and freedoms/liberties. These stereotypes are many, diverse, and widely held.
https://youtu.be/2t03deLq0f8
This post is published so that we may examine the roles and status of Muslim women today; including major indicators such as education and work. If the uninformed would compare the status of Muslim women with women in other first, second and third-world nations or regions, some would be surprised at what they would discover. While the roles of Muslim women in some countries are minimized and some women have limited rights, in other Muslim-majority countries, increasing numbers of women are participating and excelling in diverse fields and professions.
Muslim women are leaders and innovators, including heads of state, reformers, and athletes. Muslim women have served as heads of state in a number of countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Indonesia and have gained recognition as reformers and human rights activists. American Muslim women have founded organizations and been appointed to governmental positions. There are a growing number of Muslim women athletes, many competing in hijab.
https://youtu.be/nnF4-7nE9dc
Islam gives various rights to Muslim women as purported and described in the Qur’an and Hadith. These include the right to seek knowledge and gain an education, the right to work and keep her earnings, and the right to inherit. Marital rights include the right to choose her spouse, the right to keep her name and income, and the right to financial support in marriage. In Islam, mothers deserve the highest level of kindness and respect.
There are many prominent women in the Qur’an and in Islamic history. The Qur’an mentions a number of women, including Eve, Abraham’s two wives Sarah and Hagar, the Virgin Mary, and the Queen of Sheba. Women played an important role in the formative years of Islam, as well as in later years. They included women scholars and benefactresses who built wells, schools, and mosques. There have also been a number of women rulers in Islamic history.